Tripura polls: A Watershed Movement

By: Sauro Dasgupta
The recent local body elections in Tripura has been a watershed moment in Indian elections, with the people reposing faith in the BJP and being this unimpressed with the divisionary tactics of the opposition. Fake news leading to communal violence made the people fight among themselves in order to get the maximum political benefit for some quarters. Tripura police enforced section 144 to deter troublemakers.
After coming to power, Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb contacted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who assured him all support in the development activities. BJP could understand the problems with people and solve them. Under the excellent governance in the state under the leadership of the young and dynamic Chief Minister, the police could back down all the people who were acting against the state and manage to prosecute them in a timely manner. The Law and order situation in the state of Tripura has improved to a great extent. The state dealt with them well. The state should also ensure that violence and communal disharmony must be a thing of the past.
One lesson the Opposition needs to learn is to avoid communalizing elections, for the polarizing impact lasts for generations. Like the BJP, they should fight on development issues alone. Of course, trouble makers should be dealt with severely, but nobody should be jailed for criticizing the government. The Opposition also needs to ensure that they remain united. The BJP should also contest polls on development issues now, unlike what it did in the past. Hindutva will remain a poll plank, but the empowerment of the people must be the top priority. Development and public empowerment will also force the Opposition to focus on public welfare, a lesson that the BJP can pick up from the development policies of the Congress from 1947-1977. Current BJP leadership also needs the democratic spirit of Nehru, Dr SP Mukherjee, DeenDayalUpadhyay and Rajiv Gandhi, the willpower of Savarkar, Ambedkar, Indira Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao and the charisma of Shastri, Vajpayee and Advani. Development and progressive policies will enable any party to win, whether Opposition parties or the BJP. They all should remember this vital lesson and move on.
(The writer is PG 1 student, Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University)